David Element
Wildlife Photography and Digital
Video Images
_________________________________________________________Hymenoptera
74 – Small-notched Mason Wasps
SMALL-NOTCHED MASON WASP Ancistrocerus
gazella
SMALL-NOTCHED MASON WASP Ancistrocerus
gazella
SMALL-NOTCHED
MASON WASP Ancistrocerus gazella
·
The Small-notched Mason Wasp Ancistrocerus
gazella is one of three British species of solitary tube or potter
wasps resembling small social wasps that are virtually indistinguishable from
one another unless they have been examined under magnification, so separating
them in the field beyond genus is impossible with the naked eye. They can be
quite elusive too. However, the example above, shown feeding on Tansy Tanacetum
vulgare, does not appear to have any ‘v’-shaped notch on the leading
edge of the first gastral tergite, so although the identification is not 100%
certain, this would appear to rule out the similar A. parietum.
These wasps make their nests inside stems or other hollow, tubular spaces,
stacking individual cells longitudinally, and provisioning each larva with a
caterpillar before sealing it with mud.
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